Good morning. Top policy makers and influencers offered insights at our annual CFO Network conference in Washington on Tuesday. U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Currysaid efforts by regulators to oversee financial technology aren’t aimed at stifling growth and innovation, but rather meant to start a dialogue with startups and banks. “It’s not an issue of punishing or subjecting someone to a regulatory regime,” Mr. Curry said.

“Internally, we are looking at how we can be responsive to both sides of the question—both the banks and the fintech firms and what the relative advantages and disadvantages are of existing regulations,” he said. Financial technology, or fintech, encompasses new firms, products and services, from digital currencies to online lending and payments. Mr. Curry, who has advocated for “responsible innovation” in past speeches, pointed to adjustable-rate mortgages—one of the main culprits of the housing crisis—which might have been considered “financial innovation” but turned out “to be quite a sorry state.”

THE DAY AHEAD

Fed should stay put. Seven years after the financial crisis and just one interest-rate increase later, the U.S. economy still isn’t ready for another one. The Federal Reserve is unlikely to raise short-term rates at the policy meeting concluding today. July might be off the table, too, after a disappointing May jobs report and increased uncertainty overseas. And while measures of financial conditions have improved from earlier this year, Steven Russolillo writes for Ahead of the Tape, they still suggest the central bank should remain on hold for now, though perhaps not much longer.

CFO JOURNAL EXCLUSIVE

Trade ministers from the twelve Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member countries participate in the closing press conference in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 05 October 2015.

European Pressphoto Agency

Election aside, TPP is a go. The White House is optimistic that Congress will pass its proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement this year, despite heated election rhetoric and skepticism, said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, Vipal Monga reports. “I’m confident when the time comes, it will get the necessary support,” Mr. Froman said at the CFO Network. The Obama administration completed a trade agreement in October that forged a compromise with 12 countries.

Bangladesh heist horrifying.Preet Bharara, Manhattan’s top prosecutor, said U.S companies should worry, but not panic, over the brazen $81 million cyberheist from Bangladesh’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He said the attack didn’t point to specific vulnerabilities but should leave companies concerned. Asked whether people should have confidence in Swift, the global bank messaging service used to carry out the theft, Mr. Bharara said at the Network, “I don’t think there is any reason for people not to have confidence in any particular institution [but] people need to be deeply concerned.”

Cyberattacks are case-by-case.Some kinds of foreign cyberattacks are more worrisome than others, Richard Teitelbaum writes. Specifically, the publishing of nonpublic information concerning military personnel and the loss of control of networks are among the most pressing Internet-based challenges facing the U.S. military, Lt. Gen. James “Kevin” McLaughlin, the U.S. Air Force’s deputy commander of U.S. Cyber Command, said at the CFO Network that threats come from terrorists like ISIL but also from rival nations.

Blockchain success starts with financial services. The benefits of blockchain technology can benefit all businesses, but the most immediate and largest gains will be reaped by the financial services sector, said Blythe Masters, chief executive of Digital Asset Holdings LLC. The financial services industry stands to reap the largest rewards from implementing blockchain technology because it has under-invested in back-office systems in recent years, Tatyana Shumsky reports. Post-trade processing often relies on antiquated programming and technology, Ms. Masters told Kimberly S. Johnson, editor of CFO Journal.

Presidential campaign may be bad for business.GOP Pollster Bill McInturff said the 2016 Presidential campaign is “really bad” for business, because neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton supports traditional commercial interests such as trade. Mr. Trump’s “style is so potent,” and has blown past ideology, Mr. McInturff told an audience at the CFO Network. Republican voters have felt betrayed by what they perceive as too much compromise with President Barack Obama’s administration and have turned to a nontraditional candidate, he said.

CORPORATE NEWS

Shoppers walk from the checkout at a Wal-Mart Supercenter store in Springdale, Ark.

Danny Johnston

P&G, Wal-Mart at odds. Procter & Gamble Co.’s long, roughly $10 billion marriage with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is under strain, The Wall Street Journal reports. Last year, P&G executives were alarmed when Wal-Mart stocked a European competitor right next to the company’s iconic Tide detergent. It was a barb for the consumer-products giant, which has long considered Wal-Mart’s shelves to be its most valuable retail real estate. P&G employees rushed to a nearby Wal-Mart to snap pictures of the rival premium detergent, Persil, owned by Germany’s Henkel AG.

Microsoft’s LinkedIn buy might work. Microsoft Corp.’s planned acquisition of LinkedIn Corp. potentially is a very savvy move, though you would be hard-pressed to discern that. There are lots of reasons for skepticism, Christopher Mims writes, the price tag for one. At $26.2 billion, it is by far Microsoft’s largest acquisition ever. The size alone is a reason for caution, given the sorry history of such large deals. Then there is Microsoft’s own checkered history with acquisitions. But this deal can succeed where the others failed.

Car dealers prefer Japan. Owners of American dealerships prefer working with Japanese auto makers even after Detroit’s car companies spent heavily to make domestic retail networks more competitive, according to a new industry survey. Dealers rank Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus and Toyota franchises as the most valuable and say the Japanese company and two of its rivals are the most responsive to their needs, according to a report published Tuesday by the National Automobile Dealers Association.

Alibaba plays genie. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. released an annual revenue forecast for the first time, projecting a 48% increase for the fiscal year ending in March as the Chinese e-commerce company seeks to alleviate investors’ concerns about its growth prospects. While emphasizing its revenue outlook, Alibaba executives played down another metric called gross merchandise volume, or GMV, which often has been used by the company and its rivals to measure the growth of e-commerce transactions. The company faces a U.S. investigation into its accounting practices, and its GMV figures have come under scrutiny from investors.

FDA warns Whole Foods.Whole Foods Market Inc. has until the end of June to address “serious violations.” In a warning letter to Whole Foods’s top executives, dated June 8, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Whole Foods had failed to manufacture, package and store food in ways that reduced the potential for contamination and microorganism growth. On a long list of problems, FDA inspectors said they found foods like pesto pasta and mushroom quesadillas being prepared or stored in places where condensation was dripping from ceilings, a doorway and a fan. It said the company kept dirty dishes near food, didn’t supply hot water at some hand-washing sinks and allowed high-pressure hoses used for cleaning to spray into areas where foods like couscous and salad dressing were being prepared.

Takata sells shares to cushion blow.Takata Corp. is selling shares it owns in auto makers to raise cash as the embattled Japanese company faces mounting costs stemming from recalls of defective air bags linked to at least 11 deaths and more than 100 injuries world-wide, said a person familiar with the matter. Takata’s ownership stakes are currently valued at roughly $90 million. It isn’t clear when Takata plans to unload the shares or how much money it will ultimately raise.

Female directors still face barriers.The number of women on corporate boards is barely budging. Women hold less than one-fifth of board seats at S&P 500 companies, according to Catalyst, a research group that tracks executive women. Catalyst’s annual board census found that 19.9% of board seats were held by women last year, compared with 19.2% the year prior. Progress toward boardroom parity is “painstakingly slow,” said Trina Gordon, the chief executive of executive search firm Boyden World Corp. And the pace doesn’t appear to be picking up much. Just more than a quarter of open director positions last year went to women, with the remaining 73.1% going to men.

Bed Bath & Beyond buying One Kings Lane.One Kings Lane Inc., an online furnishing retailer that was valued at nearly $1 billion two years ago, has been sold for a fraction of that price, the latest example of a private company struggling to live up to a once-highflying valuation. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. said Tuesday it had acquired the flash-sale website for an undisclosed sum but said the purchase price was “not material.” A Bed Bath & Beyond spokeswoman declined to comment on the terms of the transaction. One Kings Lane had raised about $225 million in venture capital, and was last valued at about $900 million in early 2014, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. That was more than double the $440 million value placed on the company in 2011.

REGULATION

Net neutrality stands, for now. A federal appeals court upheld government net-neutrality rules Tuesday, handing a defeat to cable and telephone companies trying to fend off tighter oversight of the consumer broadband business. The divided ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is a major victory for the Obama administration and internet companies such as Netflix Inc.and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. They have favored net-neutrality rules as a way of preventing unfair competition from internet-service providers. The court’s sweeping validation of the Federal Communications Commission rules opens the door to further pending FCC regulatory steps that cable and wireless firms have resisted.

EARNINGS

Neiman Marcus suffers amid retail woes. Neiman Marcus Group Ltd.’s profit fell 81% on lower sales in the latest quarter as the luxury department store operator joined a long list of retailers reporting weak results. Mall-based luxury retailer Hudson’s Bay Co. last week reported weaker-than-expected sales for its latest quarter, hurt by declines at its Saks Fifth Avenue chain. Last month, Nordstrom Inc. cut its annual guidance and said bigger discounts were necessary to clear inventory in the first quarter.

ECONOMY

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet L. Yellen.

charles mostoller/Reuters

Reasons for Fed inaction today abound. Plunging government-bond yields, the looming threat of “Brexit” and the twists and turns of central banks in the U.S. and elsewhere are testing investors. They also show how strangely connected and reflexive global markets have become. Yields on German 10-year bonds went negative for the first time Tuesday as investors grew increasingly nervous that the U.K. will vote to leave the European Union, one of several reasons why the U.S. Federal Reserve is unlikely to announce a rate increase today. The lack of action by the Fed in turn is a reason why the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank have had to step up their stimulus, driving down bond yields in Europe and Japan. All of this makes sense.

CFO MOVES

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc., a Greenwood Village, Colo., restaurant chain, said Stuart Brown will resign as finance chief on July 15 to pursue opportunities outside of the restaurant industry. Red Robin said Terry Harryman will add the interim CFO title to his roles as chief accounting officer and controller, and will assume principal financial officer duties while the company conducts a search for Mr. Brown’s successor. Mr. Harryman will receive a salary of $265,000, plus $1,500 a week while interim CFO, plus a guaranteed bonus of 70% of his supplemental salary and restricted stock valued at $100,000.

Content from our sponsorDeloitteCFO insight and analysis written and compiled by Deloitte

Implementing an enterprise risk management (ERM) program can enable federal CFOs to unify and improve their agency’s risk management capability. A comprehensive risk appetite framework can improve an agency’s ERM capabilities in multiple ways, such as helping senior leadership communicate the agency’s risk appetite throughout the organization, prioritizing risks and measuring whether the agency is staying within its risk appetite. Learn how CFOs can develop a risk appetite framework aligned to the agency’s mission and the amount of risk the agency is willing to tolerate to achieve its strategic goals and objectives.

Please note: The Wall Street Journal News Department was not involved in the creation of the content above.More from Deloitte →

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.